Two cases in point arose in matches on Thursday of a second cautionable offense, and while both seemed
clear examples of a sending-off, only one player was so punished. Such a crucial decision is never an easy one for the referee, and curiously, both situations involved a team captain.

Uruguayan captain Diego Godin wasn’t sent off despite forearming England forward Daniel Sturridge in the throat late in the first half. The foul stopped Sturridge as well as a
promising English attack, yet referee Carlos Velasco Carballo took no action. Godin, who’d earlier been caution for handling the ball -- a ruling that he protested -- finished out the
match, which Uruguay won, 2-1.

Not so fortunate was Greek captain Konstantinos Katsouranis. Cautioned in the 27th minute for crudely hacking Yuya Osako as Japan tried to
launch a counterattack, Katsouranis tripped Makoto Hasabe 11 minutes later with a late sliding tackle and reacted in astonishment when referee Joel Aguilar pulled out a yellow card and
then the red.

Are these examples of inconsistency among officials, or simply those dicey matters of judgment based on the situations and rooted in a referee's experience and
interpretation?

Many teams scout the referees along with the opposition, and some are known to be quite reluctant to hand out a second yellow that would dismiss a player. Players can take
advantage of this, and for many years in MLS, for example, second cautions were much rarer than they should have been. For some players, at least, carrying a caution didn’t really mean
anything.

Other referees are strict enforcers that will judge each foul independently and don’t cut much slack if a cautioned player commits another such offense. No referee wants to
short-hand a team yet the caution is an official notification that the player must adhere to the rules and will be punished if he doesn’t.

Might other factors have been in play in these
examples? Godin’s caution for handball resulted from the ball bouncing amongst a cluster of players, and there were no definitive replays available to assess the decision adequately. It’s
hard to believe that the referee could rule Godin’s forearm as anything but a cautionable offense, so unless the referee didn’t get a clear view of that incident, he might have taken a
lenient approach if he was having doubts about handing out the first caution.

Referees aren’t supposed to officiate this way but the temptation to do so, to give a player the benefit of
the doubt and keep the teams even if at all possible, is very powerful. (There’s also the belief that if a player is sent off the referee will be tempted to even things up if given the
opportunity.)

In the case of Katsouranis, he may have indeed been trying to win the ball -- as ESPN commentator Steve McManaman repeatedly cited -- but he didn’t get any part of
it while plowing into Hasabe’s ankle. Katsouranis clearly committed a deliberate foul when he stopped Osako and accepted his caution in that case; his reaction to the second caution mirrored the
belief of McManaman that a late tackle isn’t cautionable unless it is excessively reckless. If a captain gets a bit more leeway, as in the case of Godin, why didn't Katsouranis?

A
cautioned player, by definition, is under closer scrutiny. He doesn’t have the same freedom to foul as a player without a card. Fortunately, for Greece, it was able to hold out with 10 men and
grind out a 0-0 tie that keeps alive its hopes of advancement to the knockout round.

English fans can only wonder what their team might have done with a man advantage for approximately the
same amount of time. Instead, England equalized in the 75th minute on Wayne Rooney’s first World Cup goal, then conceded a second goal to Luis Suarez 10 minutes
later.

Many more factors than the officiating will be examined in the wake of England’s struggles. Yet on the eighth day of World Cup group play, its fans can rightly wonder why
the fickle Curse of the Second Caution smote one team, and spared another.

Umm...you've got your commentators mixed up. McManaman did the England game. I think that was Ekoku on the Japan game. Granted they all have British accents and say lots of stupid things, so I can see how you might confuse them.

Decent officiating, once again, but inconsistent. At this level, they should all be excellent AND consistent with each other. In their minds they are, and each referee is usually consistent within their own standards. FIFA is weak here and has difficulty covering these intricacies with the language/cultural barriers that exist. Given the PC requirement to select referees from many second-rate leagues, we shouldn't be too surprised. Here's the list: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_FIFA_World_Cup_officials

The apparent internal inconsistences in these cases have not been the only ones in the tournament. In the Uruguay-Costa Rica match, Uruguay was awarded a penalty because of a Costa Rica football-type arms around the middle tackle in the penalty area A few minutes later, Costa Rica was denied a penalty despite the identical tackle by a defender in the Uruguay penalty area. The difference would have been fruit for a Ridge Mahoney column if Costa Rica had not come back to win the match,

If Katsourinas was the player who committed the horrendous tackle on the Japanese player early (from behind, no attempt to play the ball, I think he got his studs on the player's calf, if I recall correctly), he was fortunate not to be sent off for the first one, so anything close to a yellow card would warrant a sending off. I did not see the Uruguay game, but from your description, if the first yellow was questionable, the ref may have been looking to avoid the 2nd on another questionable call. On the other hand, when a player has a yellow card, if he deliberately fouls someone (and from your description, that's what Godin did), he should be sent off, for stupidity (or arrogance) if nothing else.

James, I think you're on to something. If I didn't know better, it seems like the refs are hesitant to penalize the big teams but not so hesitant to penalize the little ones (like Concacaf teams). Mexico had two goals disallowed, Costa Rice was not given a clear penalty against Italy, I think Australia might have been denied one against the Dutch, and Honduras had what looked to be a good goal disallowed against Ecuador (possibly offside, but the CR seemed to indicate it was handling, when the Honduran player's arms were by his side and he did not move them to play the ball...). While I doubt it is a conscious policy, I think refs are more careful calling penalties against, or taking goals from, the favored nations than they are the underdogs.